Steam Magnetic Basic To The Application

Land "Lake - Pasco county school district plans to begin to apply the Monday for students who want to attend Saunders Memorial Primary School, which will open the first magnet school in his academic years 2015-16 years.

The application period will continue through Jan. 15, and all who apply will be eligible for a lottery-style selection process, according the school district. The district expects to notify parents of whether their child was accepted by Feb. 6.

Unlike all other Pasco elementary schools, Sanders won’t have attendance boundaries, and parents of students throughout Pasco County can apply.

Priority preference will be given to some students, though. The district reports that those who would receive the preference are:

Students who attend Connerton Elementary and Oakstead Elementary, both of which are well over their enrollment capacities and in need of relief from crowded campuses.

Students who live within 1 mile of Sanders Memorial, which is at 5126 School Road, Land O’ Lakes.

Children whose parents work at one of the schools that are in the same feeder pattern as Sanders. Those schools are Connerton Elementary, Pine View Elementary, Pine View Middle and Land O’ Lakes High.

Students who have a sibling at Sanders and space is available.

Applications must be made online through the district’s website at www.pasco.k12.fl.us. Parents who are applying for more than one child must fill out a separate application for each student.

Sanders Memorial will be a rebuilt version of an old school.

The original Sanders was more than 60 years old when the district closed it in 2010 and sent its students to the newly opened Connerton Elementary. Most of the buildings on the Sanders campus were demolished.

The plan had been to rebuild Sanders immediately and send about half the Connerton students back there when the school was ready.

When Connerton opened, though, the national recession had taken its toll, and growth in Pasco had stalled. So the reopening of Sanders was postponed.

With growth now heating up again, the district started moving toward reopening the school, but as a STEAM magnet rather than as a traditional elementary school.

The school board named Jason Petry as principal. Petry, principal at Lake Myrtle Elementary, will begin his new job Jan. 6, long before the opening of Sanders in August, so he can begin hiring a staff and handling the other needs of starting a new school.Source:suncoastnews.com